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Forum Discussion
Advice needed
All of the available home server nas info is overwhelming.
I have been researching nas devices for more than 6 months and am in decision paralysis mode.
Here's what I need:
1. Media Storage. Have iMac with attached (via FireWire) 2tb ext drive for video. Have 3 young kids and want the nas to be future proof. I know that using our hd video recorder will necessitate plenty of storage for pics and home video.
2. Media storage for video. We own every pixar movie, kids movie, etc. I've hesitated putting them all on the iMac (will run out of room). The ones I have were ripped in an iPad compatible format ( great for airplane flights). Clearly this format is not optimal for our hd tv sets.
3. Streaming. Once I purchase the nas, will purchase units of some type to reside next to our 3 hd tvs play the ripped video. Currently have a Sony blu ray player which can only play a limited number of file formats stored (currently not verions i have on iMac). I am getting frustrated running around the house trying to find the one dvd they want to watch. As a techie, I want it available much more easily.
4. I travel a fair amount and want the ability to access the media data on my idevice or android from a network connection.
5. Want the grandparents to have the ability to access the media data.
6. Want to be able to store some of my work data (projects, limited pictures, videos, etc) from a desktop pc and laptop pc to the device.
7. Data needs to be accessible via pc and Mac os.
8. TV shows. We have comcast, and no TiVo devices. My wife is a Greys Anatomy junkie and would like o have access to the recorded video from any tv(living room and bedroom at a min).
I have a computer background, am a diy-er but am 20 yrs removed from programming. I enjoy debugging problems, but job and3 young kids prevent me from having much time to attack complicated problems or set up issues.
My questions are:
1. Which device? I've already decided on a readynas - too many things seem to be missing from the competitors, too many negative posts and the forum and support here is awesome. I'm leaning toward the ultra 4+ vs ultra 6+ vs pro 6, but don't think I need the business features of the pro model but may need the faster chip speed. Thoughts?
2. Do I need to be able to transcode? It is difficult to find an answer. Given that I have hd sets, I'd like to rip the DVD or blurray at highest resolution, but will need to play back on iPad, iPhone and droid devices. Some recommendations have been to rip 2 copies (at 2 resolutions). This seems overkill. Will orb handle this? If so, how hard is it to get orb up and running on the pro6?
3 I experimented with xbmc on my iMac and liked the UI. The interface is the characteristic of the media extender (popcorn hour, xbox ps3, wdtv, etc), but xbmc does a nice job accessing movie metadata. How does one copy the video, create metadata, (from the disc or download from the web)? Is there a way to access the data and store it on the nas such that it is accessible by different extenders?
4. Is it simple to set up the file system to store the videos?
5. How does readynas photos compare to iPhoto?
6. How does one capture cable tv to the readynas? Do I need a Happaugue device?
I am sure I forgot a few quetions I know these are redundant and that each answer is likely to be found elsewhere on the forum. However, I think the answers will be helpful to many of us who can't decide which nas to buy.
Thanks!
I have been researching nas devices for more than 6 months and am in decision paralysis mode.
Here's what I need:
1. Media Storage. Have iMac with attached (via FireWire) 2tb ext drive for video. Have 3 young kids and want the nas to be future proof. I know that using our hd video recorder will necessitate plenty of storage for pics and home video.
2. Media storage for video. We own every pixar movie, kids movie, etc. I've hesitated putting them all on the iMac (will run out of room). The ones I have were ripped in an iPad compatible format ( great for airplane flights). Clearly this format is not optimal for our hd tv sets.
3. Streaming. Once I purchase the nas, will purchase units of some type to reside next to our 3 hd tvs play the ripped video. Currently have a Sony blu ray player which can only play a limited number of file formats stored (currently not verions i have on iMac). I am getting frustrated running around the house trying to find the one dvd they want to watch. As a techie, I want it available much more easily.
4. I travel a fair amount and want the ability to access the media data on my idevice or android from a network connection.
5. Want the grandparents to have the ability to access the media data.
6. Want to be able to store some of my work data (projects, limited pictures, videos, etc) from a desktop pc and laptop pc to the device.
7. Data needs to be accessible via pc and Mac os.
8. TV shows. We have comcast, and no TiVo devices. My wife is a Greys Anatomy junkie and would like o have access to the recorded video from any tv(living room and bedroom at a min).
I have a computer background, am a diy-er but am 20 yrs removed from programming. I enjoy debugging problems, but job and3 young kids prevent me from having much time to attack complicated problems or set up issues.
My questions are:
1. Which device? I've already decided on a readynas - too many things seem to be missing from the competitors, too many negative posts and the forum and support here is awesome. I'm leaning toward the ultra 4+ vs ultra 6+ vs pro 6, but don't think I need the business features of the pro model but may need the faster chip speed. Thoughts?
2. Do I need to be able to transcode? It is difficult to find an answer. Given that I have hd sets, I'd like to rip the DVD or blurray at highest resolution, but will need to play back on iPad, iPhone and droid devices. Some recommendations have been to rip 2 copies (at 2 resolutions). This seems overkill. Will orb handle this? If so, how hard is it to get orb up and running on the pro6?
3 I experimented with xbmc on my iMac and liked the UI. The interface is the characteristic of the media extender (popcorn hour, xbox ps3, wdtv, etc), but xbmc does a nice job accessing movie metadata. How does one copy the video, create metadata, (from the disc or download from the web)? Is there a way to access the data and store it on the nas such that it is accessible by different extenders?
4. Is it simple to set up the file system to store the videos?
5. How does readynas photos compare to iPhoto?
6. How does one capture cable tv to the readynas? Do I need a Happaugue device?
I am sure I forgot a few quetions I know these are redundant and that each answer is likely to be found elsewhere on the forum. However, I think the answers will be helpful to many of us who can't decide which nas to buy.
Thanks!
21 Replies
Replies have been turned off for this discussion
- Thanks for all the input.
Been researching the idea of capturing cable tv to the nas -to have on a central server (pro6) to be accessible by all devices. What seems awfully and unexpectedly complicated is how o get recorded tv shows to the nas in an automated fashion. I have comcast with a cisco rng200 dvr. I understand that I can't pull or dump recorded shows from the machine. ATT Uverse may be easier.
Does anybody have experience with the Hauppague hdpvr? It seems that this box accepts signal from your cable box and may be able to save to a nas. Then all I would need is a media extender (plex type given readynas plex support) to view the recorded tv shows on any device on the network.
Thanks. - I don't record TV directly to my NAS, but here is what I have considered:
My htpc has the Ceton InfiniTV 4 cable card tuner together with a Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-2250 for non encrypted and SD broadcasts from Comcast. Win7 Media Center stores the recordings locally. I share my recording location using the Win7 Home Group and any other member of the Home Group can access the recordings. Note that some channels (notably HBO) set the a flag which requires that the recording is only playable on the original htpc. I don't know how Media Center Extenders (aka XBox 360) work with these recordings.
Media Center stores the recordings on a local drive letter. If an iSCSI volume were mounted on my htpc, my thinking is that this would be a way to record directly to a ReadyNAS. - Or simply create a share for the recorded TV and map that share to a drive letter. The shares on my main NAS are all mapped to Windows drive letters (N: through R:).
- PapaBear - I recall trying that a while back and WMC refusing due to detecting that it is a remote device. This led me to think that using iSCSI might fool WMC into treating it as a local device. I'll try to keep a mental note to revisit the question...
sphardy wrote: Media Extender - I mainly use Plex on macs, with a mini plugged into my TV which is the best option, if the most expensive.I I have an LG TV also that has a Plex Client built in. Not the most visually attractive option, but it seems to work well. Have heard good things about both the Samsung client and ATV2 clients, but ATV2 currently requires a Jailbreak. Roku appears to be beta quality but developing fast. Check out the Plex forum for other opinions
ReadyNAS Photos - it maintains a completely separate photo library. There is no integration with iPhoto or any other photo app. You would export from iPhoto, then import to RN Photos.
Transcoding - for offline access yes you will need a 2nd copy of your videos. Plex does allow you to maintain those together in your library, or separate them as you wish. I'd still recommend the Pro6 - once you have your NAS running it is very likely you will want to run other apps too and the faster processor the better. Plus the 6 bays as if you start making full quality rips and you begin backing up your other devices to the NAS then disks space will be consumed quickly. Note the ReadyNAS 4 bay devices have much slower processors than either 6 or 2 bay units
Update - Plex 9.5 is now released. Try it on our iMac first to see if it works for you
What if you use a non-plex media extender (wdtv, popcorn hour, etc)? Other than apple and roku, there are no other options. Am I correct in understanding that the plexapp media server only presents the media data and therefore I would not need to duplicate the data for a non-plex extender? you also mentioned that plex can organize various copies ripped at different resolutions (eg 1 bluray and1 for iPad). Do I need to set up 2 separate folders?
Similar question for music. If it is stored as an iTunes db, I assume I need a second copy to be accessible by non-iTunes clients (eg droid).
Thoughts? And, thanks!- WDTV, popcorn hour, Dune, and Netgear's NTV550 all support CIFS (and some support NFS as well). So they can directly access the files on the NAS.
Jjnsgy wrote:
Other than apple and roku, there are no other options.
For Plex there is a Samsung client (if you have a suitable BlueRay player or TV), plus the team just released a Google TV client. There are many non-Plex options as suggested in the previous post, and other media servers also. I just recommend Plex as I find it to be the best out there at the moment, though it is currently better for video than audio.Am I correct in understanding that the plexapp media server only presents the media data and therefore I would not need to duplicate the data for a non-plex extender?
Correct - Plex never touches your media, so it is fully accessible to other applications, extenders etc.you also mentioned that plex can organize various copies ripped at different resolutions (eg 1 bluray and1 for iPad). Do I need to set up 2 separate folders?
That choice is yours depending on your need/setup. If you place two copies of a movie in a folder, each with a different resolution, then Plex will index both but present them as a single library entry. Then when you wish to play the movie you will be asked which version and be presented with basic metadata to allow you to choose (eg between a 720p encode and an iPad encode)Similar question for music. If it is stored as an iTunes db, I assume I need a second copy to be accessible by non-iTunes clients (eg droid).
Not necessarily - most applications like Plex & iTunes can access the same media. The key is if any of those applications change your media in any way. For example iTunes can organise your media into a Artist/Album folder structure. If it does that you may have to force your other applications to rescan the media to detect any changes iTunes has made. So a common media library is possible, just be aware of how each of the applications that access it might make changes- If you are planning to store multiple HD rips on your NAS, then having a second copy for iPad will not ( relatively speaking) consume that much space. I currently convert my bluray rips (done with Clown BD and AnyDVD), with HandBrake to a size suitable for iPad, then store these in a separate folder.
A 6 bay Readynas would give you plenty of storage capacity for HD material. The pro 6 is only slightly more expensive than ultra 6 plus.
I gave up on transcoding, I suspect it won't be suitable if you need multiple streams of different material simultaneously.
I think Dune HD makes the best media players currently available, just make sure you use Ethernet connections to your players. I have Dune D1s, flawless playing of HD material. Dune does not have media library interface built in , but Yadis works very well with it and retrieves all metadata automatically, Zappiti is another option, not quite as good flexible as Yadis though.
Second NAS is a must for simple, automated, frequent backups. - Thanks to all for your help. Just purchased Pro6 from Newegg. They didn't have it in stock last week (indicated they werent getting any). Checked back yesterday and they had it with a code for 10% off the diskless unit (but only got 5% at checkout - they are closed now, but will call tomorrow).
And got a Barracuda ST200DL003 - also with a $20 off code. Unfortunately, both expire 12/19.
Hopefully, will not need to find you on the other forums with questions about getting it to work!
happy holidays.
J - Great!
I would suggest that when you get it, install the disk, then update to the latest RAIDiator, then do a factory default (e.g. via System > Update > Factory Default or via the boot menu: http://www.readynas.com/kb/faq/boot/how_do_i_use_the_boot_menu) to get a clean setup on the latest firmware.
After that setup the device properly, register it, etc.
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